UOB has forecasted a significant rise in tourism spending across ASEAN countries, predicting a 126% increase in fiscal year 2024 compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019. This marks a 17% growth over 2023, as reported during a media roundtable on October 30.
The growth outlook is supported by data from Visa and Mastercard consumer credit cards, indicating an 11% year-on-year increase in total billings for the first half of 2024 across key ASEAN countries—Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The surge has largely been driven by heightened consumer activity in the catering, e-commerce, and entertainment sectors, which saw year-on-year billing increases of 21%, 20%, and 19%, respectively.
Singapore leads the ASEAN region in credit card billing growth, with a 15% year-on-year increase. This uptick includes a notable 23% rise in catering-related billings and a 21% increase in e-commerce transactions. Travel expenditures via credit card have also seen strong growth, rising 17% year-on-year.
Key tourism destinations in FY2024, based on foreign exchange spending, are anticipated to include Europe, Japan, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom.
UOB also highlighted distinct spending trends between ASEAN consumers’ use of credit and debit cards. Data from Mastercard’s Cross-Border Card Status for the first half of 2024 reveals that major credit card spending categories include hotels and accommodations, apparel, bars and restaurants, department stores, watches and jewelry, and duty-free shopping.
This expected boom in tourism spending reflects ASEAN’s strong recovery from the pandemic, with consumers showing increased confidence in travel and leisure-related expenditures across the region.
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